


Back To School: A Sequel

by RedKingRaymond



Category: Back To School - Fandom
Genre: ADPW Gang, Adventure, Blood and Gore, Comedy, Comedy Horror, Death, Fighting, High School, Horror, OC, Sequel, Timber Core High School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:26:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28194669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedKingRaymond/pseuds/RedKingRaymond
Summary: Years after what had happened in sophomore year, Derek, Pierre, Ally, and Wyatt are forced to return to a different version of their high school. They have to go through a strange 'game' in order to face off against Timber, and hopefully the power of their friendship will help them defeat whatever it is.





	1. The Beginning Again

It’s all dark- drifting in and out of consciousness before finally going under, waiting to dream peacefully…

At least that’s what Pierre thought was happening that night. After a long day of work it was what they deserved- a good, restful night of sleep. Unfortunately, a certain monstrous presence didn’t agree. Pierre realized this when they woke up in an all too familiar place- high school. Specifically, Timber Core High School. Y’know, the place where they and their small group of friends, who they barely kept in touch with now, got tormented by a strange, shadowy, porcelain-skinned thing. 

Pierre sighed as they stood up from the cold floor that they woke up on. They began to wonder if this was just their brain digging back into the depths of their mind to mess with them. They soon realized that this wasn’t the case when they heard a loud yelling from someone else who was there before them. 

“Yo Pierre! I haven’t seen you in a long time!”

“Hello Derek.” They replied to the man with an icy tone.

Derek looked pretty similar to how he did when they were in sophomore year- blonde, short hair, stupid outfit choices. The only main difference was that he has somewhat of sideburns (not on the Abe Lincoln level, but he did have facial hair). 

“Do you know what’s going on?” They asked him. 

“Nope! Not at all,” Derek grinned like an idiot. “I guess that Timber wants us back or somethin’.”

“You remember its name?” Pierre looked, judgmentally, at Derek. 

“I remember lots of stuff about it; meeting him was a very influential time of my life.” Derek shrugged. 

“Whatever, you’re such an idiot, good lord-”

Then, footsteps.

“Hi guys!” A girl greeted both of them.

“Ally!” They exclaimed.

“Well, if there’s you, me, and Ally,” Derek said, motioning to each of them. “Then where’s Wyatt-”

“GODDAMMIT ARE YOU KIDDING ME?”

“There he is.” Pierre answered after they all heard an angry yell.

Soon enough, Wyatt- angry and still looking like a Greaser- stomped into the room.

“Oh how nice, a high school reunion.” He groaned and glared at them.

“Look, this is all gonna be fine guys,” Derek said. “We won last time, so I doubt anything seriously bad is going to happe-”

Then, he started choking.

“Oh god!” Ally yelled in fear.

“N-not.. Again…” Derek sputtered through coughs as his eyes went dark. 

“Oh Jesus Christ, we already know where this is going.” Wyatt sighed.

Derek’s body convulsed strangely, his eyes completely dark. 

“Amazing! You guys are back so soon, it’s great to see you all again.” The now demonic rendition of their friend spoke to them, the same distorted voice that they all heard before. 

“We didn’t have a choice!” Pierre yelled at it. 

“Whatever, calm down.” He spun around. “I brought you all here to play a game- shut up!”

The others looked confused as Derek’s voice switched back to being somewhat normal, one of his eyes was normal too. 

“Just let me explain the game! Why do you always have to possess me? It’s just easy to, okay!” The voices bounced back and forth through the same body as they argued. 

“Hey, before you guys get too distracted, could you actually explain what we gotta do here?” Wyatt interrupted their arguing. 

“Yes! Now shut up Derek.” the fighting stopped. “You’ll go to different rooms- this is like a scavenger hunt where you find different items- then you'’ figure out where to go. Basically, just find your stuff and explore!” It paused and the voice switched. “Great, now can you leave? Fine, but I’ll be back later.”

Derek fell down, his mouth and eyes leaking black liquid as he choked and gagged. 

“You okay, buddy?” Ally asked, concerned.

“I’m good.” Derek rose and wiped off the liquid. “Wow, he really likes being inside of me- if you know what i mean.”

“No Derek, we don’t know what you mean. Please, explain it to us in detail.” Pierre replied, thoroughly done with Derek's’ idiocy. 

“Uh, nevermind…” Derek mumbled.

There was an uncomfortable silence. 

“Let’s just get going- how the hell do we know where to go?” Wyatt broke the silence. 

“Simple my friend- intuition.” Derek grinned, then ran off. “Bye!”

“Uh, well, I’m out.” Ally finger gunned and walked away.

“God i hate doing this stupid bullshi-” Wyatt muttered.

“Just go and find whatever you need to find.” Pierre said coldly and walked away, muttering. ”Idiots…”

Wyatt stood there for a bit, wanting to punch a wall. His problems with his anger didn’t get any better in adulthood. Eventually, he sighed and went on his way.


	2. Derek's First Level: Culinary

Derek made his way to the other side of the school, something in him told him to go to the Culinary classroom. As he got closer, he could hear talking inside, it sounded like a bunch of kids. 

‘Oh god… is Timber traumatizing a bunch of new students?’ He thought as he stood outside of the door to the kitchen. 

Eventually, he headed inside. The teacher was nowhere to be found, so he approached a tall guy wearing a black chef’s shirt. 

“Hey, uh, where’s your teacher?” He asked. 

“Chef Corvidald?He’s in the other room-” The guy said, before being hit in the back of his head with a jet of water.

Turning around, there were three other kids at the dishwashing sinks, one holding a sink sprayer and the other two trying to hold back laughter. 

“You’re screwed,” one of them said as the guy who Derek had been talking to walked over to deal with them. 

As that was happening, the teacher finally came back. Just as Derek remembered him. His name was Basil, and he was blonde and strict. Derek leaned back into the shadows of the giant ovens behind him, slightly intimidated by the chef. He walked silently as Basil talked to some of the students, soon enough they all began to leave. Eventually, the classroom was nearly empty, leaving only Derek and Basil. 

“You’re allowed to leave, you know?” Basil said to Derek, snapping his head to face him. 

Derek remained silent as Basil briskly walked towards him.

“You can talk.” He said, staring Derek down despite being shorter. 

“I- uh, I can’t leave now, I need some sort of item, I figured you’d know about it.” He stammered out. “I’m uh, I’m Derek by the way.”

“Oh, you’re the one I was told about.” Basil paused for a second, like he was thinking something over. “I’ll tell you right now that none of those students are real, they’re simply just copies of what they really were back then. Think of it as just… a hologram, like that sort of thing.”

“That’s uh, good to know.” Derek replied, shuffling his feet anxiously. 

“What are you so nervous about, Derek? I’m not going to hurt you.” Basil smiled, his teeth looked oddly sharp. “Your item is a very specific knife.”

“That’s… good…” Derek felt less nervous, but still felt on edge. “So, uh, where is it?”

“It’s somewhere, I’m not going to make this easy for you. You’ll have to figure it out yourself.” Basil replied, pushing his glasses up on his nose and seemingly shuddering a bit. “I’m… so hungry…”

Derek thought of many extremely inappropriate things he could say in that moment but for once, he thought before speaking. He could’ve also swore he kept seeing someone in the corner of his vision. 

“Is… someone else here?”

“What do you mean by that?”

He saw it, he knew that he did. There was a tall, dark haired man. There was definitely someone else here. Derek flicked his eyes back to Basil, who was licking his lips. 

“Can I just have my item? Please?” He began to plead. “Come on man.”

“Calm down Derek,” Basil looked like he was getting tired. “You need to actually try looking for your item.” 

“Are you, like, okay? I wouldn’t be against anything weird but still-” Derek began to move away from Basil.

“No, I-” Basil sighed. “I’m just very hungry…” 

“That’s, uh, that’s not really my problem-” Derek saw it now, someone clearly standing behind Basil. 

He moved away from Basil more, who kept trying to get closer- like he was trying to corner him. Basil looked at Derek like he was a feast, and it made him feel many emotions but mostly unease and fear. He kept creeping closer as Derek kept backing up, eyeing a closet door in the corner of his eye. He noticed that Basil was now gripping a knife that was in his pocket.

“I’m so, so sorry Derek…” basil spoke like he had just run a marathon. “I’m very hungry, and you’re the only piece of meat I can find on such short notice…”

Derek spun on his heel and practically jumped into the closet that was now behind him, slamming the door in Basil’s face. He heard the man slam his hands on the door, begging Derek to open it. 

“Derek please…” He leaned against the door as Derek pushed away all thoughts in his mind and only focused on trying to not get murdered. “I only want to eat you…”

“Please shut up! And go away!” Derek yelled at him, like it would do anything. 

“Okay, look, I have the knife you need now please just let me in.” Basil spoke quickly to him. 

“Like hell I will!” Derek yelled at him. “I’m not letting you or your weird ghost friend eat me!”

“That’s my teacher, you idiot-” Basil muttered, slamming against the door again. “I won’t eat you, I promise… I’m very hungry but I promise that I won’t eat you…”

“I really don’t believe that, Basil.” Derek began to feel the door slowly begin to open, realizing far too late that the door did not have a lock. “Wait no oh god oh no-”

Basil peeked through the crack of the door, smiling with sharp teeth. 

“Please just come out… I’m so hungry…” He groaned. “ I need to eat, Derek…”

Derek didn’t know what he was doing, but he opened the door. This turned out to actually be a good idea as Basil and his ghost teacher were leaning on it, and they both fell over. Luckily, they didn’t take Derek down with them. The ghost faded away, he couldn’t do much. Derek moved fast and pinned Basil, grabbing his knife-wielding hand to prevent any unwanted stabbing. 

“Please… let me go…” Basil groaned like he was tired. “G-get off of me… you’re suffocating me…”

Derek sat on Basil’s back, as he was stomach down, fidgeting with his hand until the knife slipped from his grip. He grinned, feeling confident and full of power.

“Finally. Why’re all you chefs so difficult?” He tilted his head jokingly, now finding the situation strangely funny. 

Basil’s only response was panting and groaning. He was still very hungry and desperately craving human flesh, but was also incredibly tired from being subdued. Derek slowly stood up, standing above Basil, who was still laying on the ground. He smirked and walked away as Basil tried to muster some strength to get up, which he couldn’t. 

Derek left the kitchen and continued on his way, deciding to go and find Ally to see how she was doing.


	3. Pierre's First Level: Chorus

While Derek had gone off and found Basil, Pierre had gone off and searched for their own item. Soon enough, they grew tired and bored of walking around in circles, sighing loudly as they forced themself to continue looking. 

“Pierre.”

They jumped at the sudden voice and turned, looking for the source of it. Harmoni, the chorus teacher, stood by an open door. 

“I believe that you’re looking for something.” She stared at them.

“Yeah…” Gears clicked in their mind, trying to figure out what it was that they needed. “What are you doing here?”

“We are the only real things here,” she replied, then gestured to the door. ‘Come in and have a seat.”

Pierre just nodded and entered the room she gestured to, going and sitting with her at a large table in the center of the room. They remembered the class- constant vocal practices, strange rituals, learning lyrics for theatrical productions. 

“We both know why we are here.” Harmoni began, sitting strangely at a chair far away from Pierre. “I do hope I can offer some comfort in these strange times.”

Pierre didn’t feel comforted at all, only deeply unsettled. They kept their eyes on Harmoni, who remained where she was. 

“Why is this all happening?” Their mouth seemed to move on their own as they asked the question.

“I truly do not know, Pierre,” she seemed to fidget with her necklace for a second. “I only know that you need something to get out of here, as do I…”

Something came to their mind in that moment- with the glint of the necklace’s charm in the low light of the room, Pierre realized that was what they needed. It was silver, shint, and resting on Harmoni’s collarbones. They needed that charm.

“Harmoni.” Pierre stood up.

“What is it?”

“I need your charm, the one on your necklace.”

“I-I can’t. You can never have it.” She held it, gripping it tightly as her eyes grew wider. “Even if it is your item, you can not have it.”

She stood up and began to back away, moving behind her desk. 

“Look, I just need it.” Pierre begged. “Please?”

“No. Absolutely not. Never.” Her face began to twist into something angry and sinister, filled with malicious intent. “You cannot leave. If it won’t let me out, then I will not allow you out either.”

“W-wait what?” Pierre was confused, they only knew that they had to get the charm. “Give me the charm.”

They began walking towards her, her face was stricken with fear and frustration.

“Be afraid!” She yelled, but it did nothing to stop Pierre, who was confused but determined. “I will never let you leave!”

Her teeth seemed longer and sharper than before, and it even seemed as though she’d grown taller. Her face began to look as though she had been dragged to hell and then pulled out of the ground and back to the living world- ragged and terrifying. But there was still a touch of fear in her, where she knew that she wouldn’t win. She knew that she wasn’t allowed to win this part. 

Pierre continued slowly towards her, then they felt something touch their ankle. At first they figured that they had just bumped into a desk, but then they attempted to move. 

And they couldn’t move. 

They looked down, and saw an octopus tentacle around their leg. Full of confusion, Pierre looked up at Harmoni, who they then realized that the tentacle was connected to, along with ten or more tentacles. 

They stood in shock and disgust, then realized that they had to think quickly to get away. They stomped on the tentacle with their free foot, and watched as it coiled back and Harmoni shrieked out in pain, which gave Pierre enough time to get far away from her. 

They looked at her in the dark light- tentacles instead of legs, sharp teeth that were almost shark-like, eyes like a demon, and her hair that was now a bright white. Pierre needed to get that charm.

As they thought to themself about what to do, a tentacle flew at them in an attempt to grab them. Pierre stepped out of the way and the appendage hit the wall behind them and stuck to it. Not having an actual plan, Pierre just ran towards Harmoni as she stretched out tentacles to try and grab them. They ducked and moved around each of them, watching as the tentacles missed and stuck to the wall that was now farther behind them. 

Using all of her tentacles in this manner proved to be a fatal mistake, as Harmoni now barely had anything left to stand on, and this gave Pierre the opening that they needed and they used all of their energy to jump at Harmoni like a rat leaping from an attic door. They knocked her down and ripped the necklace from her. She let out a howl of pain and choked out sobs and Pierre ran away with the charm. 

Once out in the hallways, they held the charm in their hands and looked at it. There was a symbol that they didn’t recognize on it and it was cold and heavy. They tucked it into their jacket pocket and kept on going, just as everyone else was.


	4. Ally's First Level: Anatomy

As Pierre was fighting for their life, and Derek had successfully escaped a cannibal, Ally was wandering around the school, confused and still unaware of where she needed to be. 

She’d been wandering the school for a while, going up and down stairs and around to every class and hallway and still finding nothing. She was beginning to lose hope, she couldn’t bring herself to feel happy about anything currently.

“Hey Ally!” Derek yelled as he ran down the hall to her.

She turned around with a smile, thinking that maybe Derek could help her.

“Derek! This is great!” Ally noticed the knife he had. “Did you already get your first item?”

“Yup,” Derek held it in his hand. “Oh, apparently the Culinary teacher’s a cannibal. Like, he literally tried to eat me.”

“Oh god-” Ally recoiled.

“Yeah, it was freaky as hell, not that that’s bad for me, but apparently he was with this ghost teacher guy.” Derek began walking with her. “It was pretty weird.”

‘Did you see the ghost guy?” Ally found herself not entirely believing him. 

“Yeah of course I saw him!” Derek exclaimed. “Black hair, glasses, absolutely terrifying.”

“Oh my god, I’ve heard of someone like that before,” Ally replied. “Back in like, freshman year I would always hear older students talking about a guy like that.”

This ghost ‘rumour’ that they’d both heard, and for Derek, unfortunately seen, wasn’t just a false story. Surprisingly enough, years back when older students would tell Ally and others about the ‘ghost chef’ they weren’t lying. 

His name was Skorzin, and he was the Culinary teacher that came before Basil. Basil was there of course, he was Skorzin’s assistant. However, no student actually knew the truth about them- that they were cannibals. Of course, the principal knew, how else would they have gotten away with killing and eating students (and sometimes staff)? Wll, one day Skorzin died, nobody knows how, and Basil continued as the new Culinary teacher, being guided by the man's ghost (because of course he had to die in the school). Because of no students ever knowing the full story or details, they all talked about it for a while until they eventually just stopped with it because nobody really cared about what Skorzin or Basil did in the kitchen that much. 

“Well, where do you have to go now?” Derek asked Ally as they continued walking down the halls of the school.

“I really don’t know… I’ve already wandered for a long time and I can’t seem to find anything…”

“Well for me it just kinda came to me,” Derek paused. “Maybe if you just walk around more you’ll find it.”

They continued their walk around the empty school, soon reaching the science hall. Derek cringed as they walked past the, now abandoned and empty, Marine Biology classroom.

“Anatomy!” Ally yelled in excitement. 

“What?” Derek turned around, confused. “Oh! Yeah.”

“It’s right here, wait, what’s the teacher’s name again?”

“Why would I remember? We both know that I never paid attention in that class.”

“Well, I guess this is where we can part, I can take it from here.” Ally said, moving towards the door.

“Wait just a second, Ally-” Derek walked to the door before she could reach the handle. “Whoever the teacher is, could be dangerous, and I should be the one to handle it.”

“Derek, no-” she replied.

“Nonono, I’ve gotta handle this and make sure it’s okay.” Derek opened the door before Ally could tell him not to, and he let the door shut in her face as he prepared to probably ruin things.

If it wasn’t obvious, Derek wasn’t the best student, especially in Anatomy class. Anything that he was bored by, he just wouldn’t bother with it, and because he was also loud and annoying, he would make all of his emotions toward the class very obvious. This caused quite a few problems- mainly with the Anatomy teacher, who had various anger issues and an incredibly short temper. Derek’s very annoying and immature sense of humour did not help with this, because it just made the teacher despise him immensely. Derek thought that he’d be okay with him by now, that he wouldn’t hold any sort of grudge towards him, but he was incredibly wrong. 

Carlston, the Anatomy teacher, was sitting at his desk calmly when Derek barged in. He tried to ignore him at first, but unfortunately Derek had to speak. 

‘Hey! Anatomy guy!” he yelled at Carlston like an idiot. “We need some help!”

Carlston sighed, feeling anger building inside of him. 

“Eh, do you remember me at all?” Derek asked. 

“Yes, of course I remember you-” Carlston replied. “Now get the hell out of my classroom.”

“Okay, wow, harsh,” Derek said in an offended tone. “What did I ever do to you? Oh wa-”

“You want a goddamned list? Huh?” Carlston half-shouted.

‘Here comes the anger.’ 

“You’ve always been lazy, you never even tried to focus or do any work back then, you always cheated at everything, you would distract the entire class, and you’d always find a way to destroy the specimens!”

“Hey, it’s not my fault that your specimens are really soft and easy to mess with and destroy-”

“They weren’t easy to destroy! You just kept purposely ruining them!”

Both kept going back and forth at each other, Derek making annoying immature comments and Carlston swearing a lot, eventually getting loud enough that Ally could hear the fighting from outside of the classroom. She felt like maybe she should intervene, so she opened the door slowly and steeped inside-

Only to see Carlston attempting to strangle Derek. 

“Jesus Christ calm down!” She yelled and ran toward them. 

Carlston and Derek both looked at her, Carlston stopped actually strangling Derek but still kept his hands around the other man's neck. 

“Look, just let him go and we can talk, I’m the one who’s actually supposed to be here.” She tried to negotiate.

“Ugh, fine.” Carlston let go of Derek, who got as far away from him as he could.

“Derek… Don’t go and do that again, please.” Ally said to him. “I think you should leave now.”

“Okay, I will, but Carlston-” Derek was about to say something terrible, like he always did. “You should get laid dude. Later!”

Carlston nearly leapt over the desks in front of him to try and grab Derek again, but was met with the slam of a door in his noseless face as Derek ran away laughing like an idiot. Unfortunately, Derek rarely had to deal with the consequences of his stupid actions. 

“Just, ignore what he does. He never thinks.” Ally sighed.

“I am quite aware that he doesn’t think. I’m not even surprised that he’s even more annoying now as an adult than he was as a student.” Carlston replied. “I’m assuming that you want your item.”

“Yeah, what do I have to do for it?” Ally asked.

“You don’t have to do anything, you can just take it.” Carlston reached into a cabinet and pulled out a jarred organ. 

“That’s… a heart.” Ally said, holding the heavy jar in her hands. “Uh, thanks. Is it...”

“Human? Yes.” 

“How do you get something like this?”

“We all have our ways of getting important things, it’s the same way I get dead bodies too.”

“Good to know…” Ally began to walk away. 

She left, continuing down the hallway to somewhere else that she didn’t know. She felt kind of sad and unfulfilled, all she really did was witness another act of Derek’s stupidity and got a human heart with no kind of dramatic battle or anything as cool as what the others had to be experiencing. She wished she wasn’t there, she just wanted to go home and not have to go through a stupid scavenger hunt hosted by a weird entity. 

Ally sighed, forcing herself to go on. She didn’t want to be in the school or even around the people she’d seen as her friends anymore, she just wanted to be in the real world again.


	5. Wyatt's First Level: Swimming

Wyatt, after trudging off at the beginning of everything, was not in the mood for any of this. 

He never would admit it to them, but he did somewhat like his friends. They annoyed him, especially Derek, and sometimes angered him, but there was something in him that made him want to be around them a little bit. But now, he wasn’t focused on his love for his friends, instead he was just wallowing in his anger on the stairs outside of the gym. He muttered to himself, and went to adjust his glasses, which he had in highschool, only to remember that he didn’t have those anymore. His vision got progressively better through the years, whereas his anger did not.

As he sat there, he felt his anger and emotions bubbling up inside of him more and more, like a pot of tomato soup left unattended on a stove in a Culinary class kitchen. He let out the tomato soup emotions by punching a rolled up gym mat that was propped up on a nearby wall. He kept punching and punching, letting out his anger onto the workout tool, as he felt tears come to his eyes. 

As he was at the end of his enraged breakdown, he heard the gym doors next to him open and someone come out of the room. 

“You doing okay mate?” They asked.

“What do you want now?” Wyatt turned away, stopping his gym mat assault, to face whoever was talking to him. He grew pale when he saw who it was. “Ohmygod- I-I’m so sorry-” 

Charon, his old swim coach, stood by the entrance to the gym, wearing a swimsuit as if she had been waiting for him to get to practice.

“It’s fine, I always remembered you and your anger problems.” They replied, leading him into the gym.

Wyatt was silent for a bit, looking away from Charon and not making any eye contact. 

“I’m assuming that you know why you’re here.” Charon said, sitting on the bleachers, where Wyatt followed. “I’m not gonna attack you like anybody else here would, you can just have your item and go on your way.”

“I-I don’t wanna leave you though-” Wyatt replied suddenly, finally looking at them. “Why are you letting me through all this so easily?”

“Unlike the other staff here, I don’t have anything to hide from you, Wyatt.” She answered. “I don’t like making things harder than they need to be. I have nothing to gain from torturing you like someone else would.”

“Can you just tell me what’s going on? Why is everything here so… Like this?” He forced out the question, almost like it pained him to find the answers. He just wanted to know why.

“Everything here is… abnormal… because that’s just what this school is. This place is just something that will haunt you forever. Most of it only wants to bring you pain.” she replied. “All the bad things that the people here have done, they’re not going to admit it all. And maybe that’s because they’re scared, just like you and your friends. We’re all scared and we don’t know what we’re doing.”

Things went quiet. Wyatt and Charon sat in silence for what felt like hours. He didn’t feel angry. But he didn’t feel sad or happy or like he just gained some hidden knowledge. He just felt nothing. Nothing at all. 

Charon took off their necklace, a black string of three pearls, and handed it to Wyatt.

“I hope you feel better, here’s your item.” She said, smiling warmly at him.

“Thanks…” Wyatt took the necklace and got up. “I’m glad I got to see you again.”

“It’s okay, I’m glad i got to see you again too, especially since we’ll never meet again,” Charon replied. “Probably…”

Wyatt walked off and out of the gym. He continued aimlessly through the halls, feeling nothing inside of him. He eventually stopped and sat down on another staircase, he couldn’t muster a single thought, everything was blank. As Ally finished talking with Carlston, as Derek ran through the hallways looking for what new adventure awaited him, and as Pierre escaped death, Wyatt sat on the stairs by himself.


	6. Derek's Second Level: Theatre

After angering Carlston, Derek had bolted off to no place in particular in order to avoid the consequences of his actions. After exploring the school once again, he eventually came to the auditorium where he figured that something important would be. He pushed open the thick doors and walked down the dark hallway until he came to the open area of the audience seats and looked up at the stage, and there he was. 

“Hey Derek!” His old theatre teacher, Iago, greeted him, unfortunately with a british accent.

Derek ran to the stage and climbed onto it.

“Alright, so-” Derek said through heavy breaths from the exercise. “ Can I have my item?”

“What? Oh nonononono,” iago stepped back a bit. “You have to earn it- by winning a battle!”

“Oh christ…” Derek sighed. “Well, okay then.”

Iago reached behind the closed curtains on the stage and grabbed a rolling bucket of random prop weapons, then took out a giant practice sword and pushed the bucket towards Derek. 

Derek looked around the bucket at the various props- a plastic rake, fake shovel, yardstick, fake axe, fake sword, real sword- he quickly made up his mind and took the real sword, which oddly looked almost exactly the same as the fake sword. He kicked the bucket down the hallway on stage right and watched as it rolled down into the darkness. He prepared himself for the battle.

Derek had done many fake sword fights in theatrical productions before, most famous (to him at least) was when he was in Romeo & Juliet for one night in his last year of school. Though he barely remembered what it was like to swordfight, he felt like he would know what to do.

“Actions!” Iago shouted and began racing towards Derek. 

Derek stood still in panic, he swore he could hear faint music. It was dramatic, like a movie score. It felt like mockery to him. He concentrated himself on battling Iago. Before he could reach him, Derek put out his sword and pointed it directly at Iago, who began to back up a bit after looking down at the blade.

“Wh-wait- is that a real sword?” he exclaimed, fidgeting with his eyepatch as sweat dripped down his face. “We aren’t supposed to have that!”

“Well, you had it.” Derek stopped pointing it at him, which proved to be a mistake as it gave Iago the opportunity to thwack him on the head with his sword- which was not actually real, just made of wood.

Derk stumbled back, Iago laughing at his misfortune. 

‘Oh god, he’s going to try and kill me-’ Derek thought to himself as he rubbed his head and felt the slight wetness of blood. He looked up from the ground, and although his vision was blurry he eventually focused his eyes on what was in front of him- which was Iago running towards him again, but with his sword raised above his head and ready to attack. Without thinking, Derek raised his sword and pointed it at Iago when he was close. He heard a quiet, gross sound.

And the sword was still in Derek’s hands.

“Uh… oh…” then coughing and choking, almost gurgling, noises came from Iago after he looked down and realized that he was impaled through the midsection by a sword that his former student was holding. 

The sword went all the way through, the beginning of the hilt was pressing against his flesh- which was getting covered with the blood that was leaking from him and through his sweater. Iago felt like throwing up, but he knew that nothing would come up. 

‘Even if I did throw up right now,’ Iago thought to himself as he stared up at the unlight stage lights. ‘It would just be blood. Only blood.’ 

Derk looked up at him, eyes wide and face fear stricken. The emotions and feelings Iago picked up were a mix of ‘oh god’, ‘what have i done’, ‘this is bad’, and ‘I should’ve taken the fake sword’. Iago smiled, pain flaring in his gut and bringing tears to his eyes, as he slid the blade out of himself. Derek still held it in his hands.

“Pure… Drama… Beautiful…” He struggled to speak as he fell to his knees, legs feeling numb and blood still leaking out, all over the stage. 

He held his stomach, hoping that his intestines wouldn’t fall out. 

‘That’d be really disgusting,’ he thought as he considered it. ‘But also kind of cool.’ 

“L-look, dude, can I just have my item-” Derek spoke quickly, panicked and obviously stressed because of the fact that he had just stabbed this man. “I-I-I’ll get you help too- oh my god oh my god-”

“There is… No need for that…” Iago coughed, he fell onto his face and clutched his stomach. “We haven’t- oh shit-”

He coughed up blood and Derek watched in horror. The sight would haunt him for the rest of his short life. 

“You- you can’t expect me to keep fighting you-” Derek exclaimed. “You’re gonna DIE!”

Iago coughed a bit more, head facing the ground as he felt the tears from coming. They were of pain and happiness- it had gone exactly as he planned, how he had imagined it would go, and he enjoyed that greatly. 

“Derek… We haven’t finished fighting yet…” Iago raised his head to look at him. “And I have what will make this fight the most spectacular one yet!”

Derek still gripped his sword, stained with Iago’s blood, and backed away from the injured man.

“N-now… I’ll bring them all out… for the grand finale!”

“What? Who?” Derek asked panickingly as Iago smiled.

Blue things, like flames, burst from the stage. They took human-like shapes as instrumental music began playing louder and louder. They almost looked familiar, but they had no faces, nothing for Derek to connect with. 

“Fight me! Fight me like an actor!” Iago screamed at Derek as he laid on the floor, bound there by his pain. 

Despite still holding the sword, Derek’s hands went numb at the sight of the entities and he dropped the sword.

“What the hell are you people?” He screamed.

“They are what entertainment is!” Iago laughed. “They’re why we’re so great!”

Derek was shaking, he felt nauseous. The stage was surrounded by the blue flames that these beings were made of, the air felt both hot and cold. He swallowed his fear and prepared himself. He just needed the item, but he didn’t even know what it was yet.

The flames leapt at him, shocking Derek so much that he fell back onto the ground. He struggled to get up but forced himself to because the beings were trying to grab him. He was so tired and scared and sick of everything that was happening.

‘I’ll have to find whatever I need myself then,’ he thought as he dodged the attacks from the beings. 

Derek quickly made his way behind the curtain and to the backstage area. He ran to a pile of boxes, letting his own intuition guide him. He heard Iago yelling for him but he ignored it. He reached into the boxes and felt around until he found what he knew he needed. He lifted his hand from the box and pulled out a microphone. He turned around and tried to sneak through the curtains and to the stairs without being noticed, but he failed.

“You don’t get to leave yet!” Iago yelled, sounding almost like a demon, and Derek felt something grab his entire body and pull him to center stage. 

It was both cold and hot, a pain to his flesh beyond anything Derek had ever felt, but he continued holding the microphone in his hand, never letting go of it. 

“You don’t win a fight by running away, you stupid boy!” Iago, still on the ground and bleeding, yelled at him. “Where’s your spirit?!”

“I don’t care about spirit or drama anymore!” Derek yelled and tried to get out of the entity’s grip.

“Well, you should care! It’s very important!” Iago replied, then began coughing up blood again. 

“You’re such a tool, dude!” Derek yelled back.

He felt the grip on him loosen and he got out of it, falling to the ground and still holding the microphone. His ribs hurt, but he still got up. The bloodied sword was still laying on the ground, he gathered his strength and picked it up. 

Panting and holding the sword, the entity lunged at him again and all Derek could do was raise the sword and pray that he wouldn’t die just yet.

And then there was no blue. Everything was gone.

Only Iago remained, stuck to the floor and groaning in pain as Derek walked away. The curtains that had been open before Derek’s arrival began to close and covered part of Iago’s body as he continued to lay there. Derek stood by the auditorium’s entrance and looked at him. He stood there for a while, thinking about everything that he witnessed and how he really did almost die. 

Then, he saw Iago disappear under the curtains. That was when Derek decided to leave.


	7. Pierre's Second Level: Art

After they escaped from Harmoni, Pierre was stuck wandering around the various hallways of the school. Tired and heavy, they slowly walked around until they decided to go to the art room. They got there and entered, the teacher sat at her desk and didn’t even notice when Pierre came in, she was too busy doing something.

“Karen.” They stood, waiting.

“Hm- oh hi Pierre!” She turned to them. “I guess you’re looking for your item.”

“Yeah. where is it?”

“Well… I don’t really know-”

Pierre stood there, they couldn’t bring themself to be angry at the inconvenience.

“How do you just not know what it is?” They asked.

“It’s a piece of art in the closet, I just forgot which one it is.” She replied.

“I’m not sorting through all of that art, not now at least.” They took a seat at one of the large desks, the room was oddly quiet but they could’ve sworn that they heard a faint sound of bells.

“Looking back on all of that art may be good for you, it always reminds me of better times.” Karen said to them.

“Yeah, sure,” Pierre replied. “I honestly don’t know what I would’ve done without this class.” 

“You were a great student, Pierre.” She said, fidgeting with her hands and continuously glancing under her desk. “Honestly, I think you’re why we always won contests.”

Pierre took a notice to her glancing away, it was always to a specific spot. They tried to lean their head to see what she could have possibly been looking at, but she’d move slightly and it would stop them from seeing whatever it was.

“What’s going on, Karen?” Pierre stood up suddenly.

“Nothing. What are you doing?” Karen stayed by her desk.

“It sure doesn’t seem like nothing.” They went closer until they were behind the desk too and looked down to see a small door on the wall.

Pierre heard the bells once again, this time they were louder.

Karen & Pierre just looked at each other for a bit, waiting in silence. Karen’s eyes began to water but Pierre’s face was void of emotion. They could still hear the bells.

“Okay fine!” She sobbed out. “I got lots of help from these tiny magic creatures so that we would never lose any sort of contest! They were all basically rigged!”

Pierre stood still. That conclusion did not make the ‘adventure’ they were having any better than it already was. 

“So… It was all a lie?”

“No! You guys always had good art, I just- I just was scared- I never wanted to risk anything!”

“You lied to me…” Pierre trembled. “You were always lying to me!”

“Pierre I-”

“Everytime I had my doubts… Everytime you reassured me of my ‘skills’... It was all FAKE? Now I know that I truly am talentless!” Pierre yelled. 

Karen sobbed at her desk as Pierre stormed to the art closet, which held all the projects from their highschool years.

“I’ll find my damn item, but I’m not going to let any of my other mistakes stay here and taint this closet.” 

And so, they smashed their old statues, pots, and paintings, leaving broken pieces on the ground. They sobbed and yelled as they destroyed everything, saddened at the thought that nothing that they did or made had ever mattered and that none of it was good. They destroyed almost all of it, eventually reaching the back of the closet and finding the final piece of art that it held. It was a small blue vase, with painted illustrations of people on it. 

“T-that’s your item!” Karen yelled before they could destroy it.

Pierre held it, feeling the cold ceramic in their hands, but they were unable to admire the true beauty of the piece. It was made by them, so it was ugly and worthless-

‘Just like me,’ they thought.

Pierre walked out without a goodbye. Karen looked somberly at all of the broken works of art littering the ground.

Then, she heard the sound of bells. She began crying again.


	8. Ally and Wyatt's Second Level: Drafting

As Derek was fighting for his life and Pierre was grieving, Ally had lost where she was going after leaving Carlston’s class. Soon though, she saw Wyatt sitting on a staircase- he looked just as melancholic as she felt. Ally walked over to him, he didn’t acknowledge her presence though. Both of them just stayed there in an awkward silence, until Wyatt finally spoke to her.

“What do you want?” he asked, facing away from Ally. 

“I just left my class, maybe we’re supposed to go to our next one together?” She questioned. 

“Yeah, no.” Wyatt slowly got up. “Why would it want us together? It would be easier to kill us by having us isolated.”

“Good point, but what if this is just how we can beat it?” She replied. “Come on, it won’t kill us to look around together.”

“Who knows, maybe it will…” He sighed. “I’ll still go with you though…”

They began walking again, complete silence hung in the air around them, they didn’t speak to each other at all. The only sound that could be heard was the light tapping of their feet on the ground as they walked down another hallway. It was almost peaceful. 

Then, there was darkness. 

It wasn’t full darkness though, they could still see faint outlines of windows and doors, but it made walking through the hallway a bit harder. They kept going on though, until they saw a faint light from a classroom. It flickered and flashed different colours and they walked towards it. 

‘Do you think we should go in there?” Ally asked.

“Ugh, i don’t know, probably?” Wyatt replied. “I could care less. I just wish this was all over with. I don’t wanna do this stupid bullshit anymore.”

“Let’s just go, okay.” Ally started walking towards the room and Wyatt followed begrudgingly.

The door was open, allowing the light to pour into the hallway, and they both entered the room quietly. It was the computer room, where they usually did drafting classes, the lights were off except for all of the computer screens, which flickered their array of colours. Though there was one strange computer, which sat in the corner of the room. It had the lower half of a man sticking out of it. Wyatt and Ally just looked at him for a while, until he came out of the computer and greeted him- he was their old Drafting teacher.

“Oh! Hey guys, what’s up?” He finally took notice of them and brushed off his coat. 

“Why were you… inside of the computer?” Ally questioned nervously. 

“I can do that, I’m just that knowledgeable in computer stuff.” he replied, putting himself feet first into the computer as though he were about to go down a slide.

“Shut up Brian, you know why we’re here.” Wyatt cut in. 

“You still have that bad temper, Jesus kid, relax.” Brian adjusted his glasses. “Oh, and if you want your items, you’re gonna have to try a lot harder than acting rude, ‘kay?” 

Wyatt groaned, annoyed at basically everything. He walked up to the computer screen and went to grab Brian and pull him out, only to see the man slide completely into the computer and out of his grasp. 

“What? Are you god damn kidding me!?” Wyatt yelled furiously.

Brian was on the screen, more pixelated than he usually would look, and laughed at Wyatt's anger.

“You guys can go into here too, y’know? Don’t get so pissy man!” he laughed and the screen went blue. 

“Go into the computer!” Ally shouted at Wyatt.

“Hell no! I’m not doing this!” Wyatt yelled back.

“Listen, we need to just get our items and leave. Stop being so difficult all the time when this is just a basic challenge.” She frowned at him. “I’m going in. You can stay out here and be stubborn all you want.”

Wyatt looked down at his feet as Ally put her hand to the computer screen and it sank in, like it was water. She fit the rest of her arms into it, then her head, and then she fell the rest of the way in and disappeared. Wyatt looked up and watched the screen as a pixelated Ally appeared on it.

“You can still come in and help, if you even want to-”

He sighed, then stuck his hand through the screen. 

It felt like he was drifting through something that was both solid and liquid and very smooth. He couldn’t breathe for a second, then he could again, and he opened his eyes to white everywhere. He could see the classroom through one square part, like it was a giant window.

“So, you actually decided to help,” he heard Ally say next to him.

“Yeah-” He almost jumped back in surprise from how close she was. 

The inside of the computer was just a giant white space, both of them looked around to see where brian could’ve gone. As they searched, random white boxes started popping up around them. They were white with only smiley faces on them and blared loud noises as more and more of them appeared in the space. 

“They’re gonna crush us or something!” Ally yelled.

Then, it all ceased and there was a tapping from in front of them. Where the giant ‘window’ was. They both looked up at it and saw Brian staring back at them, smiling. 

“You guys have got to try harder, like seriously.” he mocked them. 

“Just give us our stuff! Why are you making this so difficult?” Wyatt shouted at him. 

“Hey, Timber said for me to ‘give you your item however I felt was necessary’ and I feel like all of this is very necessary!” Brian yelled back at him. 

“Can we at least know where to find our items?” Ally asked. 

“You’ll find them eventually, there’s no set place for where they are.” Brian replied, and entered the computer again, pointing at a white hallway that had just appeared. ‘Now, go have fun!”

Ally and Wyatt decided that it was best to just go through the hallway, and so they did. They walked through the hallway and watched as it began to expand into a larger room as they went on. After a while, things that looked like computer windows began to pop up everywhere in front of both of them.

“Ow!” ally exclaimed after walking right into one window, which looked like an ad for an enamel pin.” that kinda feels like what I need!”

He reached into the window and grabbed the pin, yanking it out and holding it in her hand.

“How do you know that that’s what you nee-” Wyatt asked, only to get interrupted by Brian appearing again. 

“Congrats Ally!” he said to her. “You’ve found your item! Wyatt… stop thinking of yourself and hurry up.”

His face had gone darker and more hostile at the latter statement, then he disappeared again. Wyatt’s anger grew inside of himself but he continued walking throughout the room, looking for anything that felt to him like what he’d need. His head began to spin as he kept looking through the room

“Why is nothing ever easy for me?!” he yelled and punched the ground.

The white floor shattered away in pixels and his fist bled a small bit, he looked down into the dark cavity that he had opened up and saw something inside. There was a small rock with a crack in it inside. 

“Congrats, Wyatt!” Brian appeared suddenly again. “Seems like your anger has finally paid off!” 

“Can we just go now?” He asked impatiently.

“Yeah yeah yeah, sure, whatever,” Brian replied.

Soon enough, Wyatt and Ally were back in the classroom and the lights were all on again. Brian was sticking out of the computer and smiled at them as they held their items. 

‘’You guys did super well!” I always knew you’d achieve great things- except for you, Wyatt.” he remarked, much to wyatt’s annoyance. It was a surprise, but a good one.”

‘What do we do now then, huh?” Wyatt questioned him.

“Oh, I don’t really know. I’m off to go and watch some people- but you two should go and meet up with the rest of your little group.” he slid further into the computer. ‘Later!”

Wyatt and Ally stood in the room for a while before leaving in silence.

“Where do you think Derek and Pierre are?” Ally asked, looking up and down the hallway.

“They’ll probably be on the first floor, I bet they’re both in elective classes. We’ll just have to wander around until we find them.” he replied and began to walk past Ally, who hurriedly followed him.


	9. ADPW Gang Meets up Again

Pierre walked away from the art hall, stoic and lost. Everything was a lie to them, all they could feel was sadness, but not even the crying type of sadness. It was a terrible, horrible branch of sadness. It left them cold and empty. They just felt as though there was an empty void inside of them, and they knew that they could never fill that void ever again. 

Derek left the auditorium trembling and shaking. He had never given much care or seriousness to things like death, or any serious topic until now. Now he realized what he had done. He made the fatal mistake of looking down at his hands. They were stained with blood, so much blood. How could they have gotten so covered with blood and he didn’t even notice? He kept thinking of the moment when he’d stabbed Iago, it just kept replaying in his mind. There was a scared and worried part of him of course, but there was also a part of him that was glad he stabbed iago. He would never admit to that part of himself though, he just kept saying that he was defending himself.

Ally and Wyatt walked slowly from the drafting room, hoping that they’d soon meet their friends. Wyatt couldn’t feel anymore anger, he just felt tired. He just wanted this all to be over with. Ally was tired too, but she just kept telling herself that it would all be worth it in the end, that she had to go on and that if nobody else wanted to go on then she’d make them go on. If they all gave up now then it would be for nothing at all. 

Then, they finally all met again. They all met back up in the hallway to the principal’s office. They were all tired, bruised, bloody, and sweaty, but when they saw each other, they felt just a bit of happiness- some of them did at least. Derek mustered the faintest smile to the others. He laughed and flung himself at Ally and Wyatt, embracing them both in a hug. Pierre stood away from the three of them, they were too empty and angry at everything to feel any spark of joy from seeing all of their friends again. Especially Derek. However, the rest of them were a little bit happier. They didn’t care that they looked like a bomb went off, they didn’t care that Derek had blood drying on his hands. They only cared that they were together again.

Even as Pierre stood off to the side, feeling the void inside of them darken with the idea that their friends would see them as a failure, they looked up at the others and locked eyes with Derek. He smiled at them, and for once, Pierre believed that the gesture was genuine, even if it was from someone like Derek, who Pierre hated almost as much as Timber (but they’d never bring themself to admit that). 

‘Come on guys,' Derek sighed. “Let’s go fight this thing.”

And they all went down the hallway to the principal’s office door. They didn’t need anybody to give them any tips on where to go, they all just knew that they needed to go there. They knew what needed to be done.


	10. Finale Against Timber and Edward

They all stood outside of the door, waiting. They weren’t waiting out of patience, but fear. As they all stood there, Derek began choking and gagging.

“Oh no…” Wyatt muttered.

Derek’s eyes were all black again, and his mouth was contorted into an evil smile. Unlike at the beginning, Derek was too tired to try and fight against it.

“Why couldn’t you have just left us alone?” Pierre asked, voice serious and cold. 

“I don’t want to leave you pests alone! You’ve haunted me for years and now I’m doing what I’m meant to do! And I like having fun!” Derek, a voice speaking through him like a puppet, said happily before choking and throwing up black fluid, his eyes then became normal again. 

Everybody cringed, and Pierre stepped forward and opened the door. A man sat at a desk in front of them as they entered the room. It was a large wooden desk, with very few items and papers on it. The carpet of the room was a pale blue-green and the walls were red brick, where many paintings and a sword hung. The man was blonde and pale, Derek thought he looked awfully similar to Basil, just without the glasses. He wore a clean, ironed suit and had his legs propped up on his desk. He clearly took notice of them but didn’t say a word. Timber wasn’t there at all it seemed. 

Then, the man at the desk spoke, in a contorted and twisted voice, and Derek saw past the frames of his glasses and realized that the man's eyes were pure black. 

“You all try much too hard,” he said. “You don’t have to go after every thing or solve every mystery. Some things, like me, should be just left alone.”

“Just shut up and let us fight you!” Derek yelled at him, Ally jumped a bit at the suddenness.

“Fine, but I have to take these first-”

All of the items that they had collected flew up and out of their pockets and hands and into the air, they hovered for a bit before disappearing in an instant. 

“What the hell was the point of collecting those if we’re just gonna lose them?” Wyatt and Derek both yelled at it.

“I just wanted to give the teachers something to do- they’ll get paid extra, don’t worry.” he smiled. “However, I’m not going to let you all have just absolutely nothing to go against me with, that just wouldn’t be fair. So, go and find something in the room that you can use, I’ve left some interesting things around- now hurry up!”

Derek immediately looked to his left to find a sword hung on the wall. He glanced back at the dried blood on his hands and ripped the sword from the wall and unsheathed it. Pierre looked around the room and grabbed a hammer that laid on the ground. They held it, feeling the heaviness of it in their hand. Ally looked to the desk and grabbed a pair of large scissors. They were sharp and shiny, if she wasn’t careful she could’ve stabbed someone easily. Wyatt didn’t bother looking for any sort of weapon to grab, he felt as if his own hands were enough on their own. 

“Okay, we’re ready. What’re you going to do now?” Pierre said as the dark-eyed principal laid back in his chair. 

“Okay, we’ll finally be able to get started- oh, before that though I should introduce myself: hi, my name is edward.” And with that, he leaned back and his jaw unhinged like a snake, black fluid and what looked like appendages spilled out everywhere.

The room was filled with the sound of choking, gagging, and gurgling, until it all stopped and the principal- edward- collapsed behind the desk, and Timber rose up in his place. It was taller, far taller than it had been the last time they had seen it all those years ago, it seemed to have gotten more gaunt and pale and it had a crack on its face- like it's skin was porcelain. It laughed terribly, it’s teeth were long and pointed. 

“I hate this so much…” Derek mumbled as he felt the ground rumble beneath them all. 

He tried to run, preparing himself to hit Timber with the sword, but he couldn’t bring himself to move at all. He was stuck on the ground as the office seemed to grow larger and taller and all of his friends went and fought. Pierre kept throwing their hammer at Timber, but instead of hitting it, the hammer would just fly back at them and they’d have to grab it before it hit them. They glanced over and took notice of Derek. 

“Derek! Stop being so scared and fight you selfish bastard!” They yelled at him, feeling personally offended that Derek wasn’t moving. 

Timber frowned at Pierre as it was swatting away Ally and Wyatt’s attacks. Well, it should’ve been focusing on them instead of Pierre, because Ally was able to climb up onto the desk and stab Timber in the face with her scissors. It’s face cracked as it let out a horrible, pained scream. With more anger than it had ever felt before, Timber hit Ally away like she was a fly- then it began growing more arms. The arms were shadowy and tentacle-like and came from its back, the hands on the end of each were clawed and had long fingers. They reached out and attempted to grab at the others who were fighting. Timber’s hand-tentacles reached out and grasped at the air erratically, as if it could barely see what it was doing. 

It was difficult to dodge, but Pierre and the others avoided them by running and jumping around the room. Edward, who had regained his consciousness and risen from behind the desk, was hiding behind Timber’s lower body so he’d be out of the way of the handtacles sharp grasp. Derek was able to start moving again, struggling to not get hit, but eventually he dropped the sword and became too tired to go on. He stood in the center of the room and gave up as the hand hit him. 

It smacked him off of his feet and into the grip of another handtacle, which held him tightly and he felt his chest hurt to breathe. His limbs went numb and he hung in the air, held by Timber as all his friends looked up at him in terror. All except Pierre, who was less terrified for Derek’s fate and instead was angry.

“Are you kidding me Derek?” They yelled at him, Derek didn’t even bother trying to struggle against the giant grip. “You never try at all! Even when it’s important!”

“Why’re you always so mean-” Derek said in a brittle voice as he was practically choked by the tight grip. “-to me…”

Timber and Edward laughed, then the barrage of handtacles began again while Derek stayed suspended in the air. Ally teared up as she looked up at her captured friend. This was a bad mistake, as she had stopped for a few seconds, and she got grabbed too. Attempting to pull her arms out from being stuck to her sides, she tried to force them from the grip, and heard a loud pop and crack as her arms were filled with intense pain. She wailed and sobbed as she realized what happened.

Wyatt and Pierre looked at each other, before Wyatt decided to run head-on at Timber to try and distract it, he wanted to give Pierre an opening for attack. This was useless and far too predictable, as Timber was able to grab them both. They both struggled, but eventually stopped when the grip was tightened around them. It smiled, its sharp teeth seemed even longer, and it laughed with Edward at the group’s misfortune. 

“How amazing, I’ll finally get to win.” It spoke, it’s voice was like a scratched record. “I should’ve never struck that ‘deal’ with you all; nobody lives in fear of me, you all have haunted me ever since that time. I gained nothing.”

“W-what?” Pierre choked out.

“I’ve decided to take it upon myself to deal with you all properly, teach you all a little life lesson basically.” It grinned and looked at Derek. 

“It was honestly disappointing to see you give up so easily, Derek. I mean, you’re the one who wanted everyone to stick together! You’ve always had such an immature, naive look on things, seriously. It’s strange how the others aren’t embarrassed to be around you- oh, wait…” It shifted it’s glance to Pierre, who started sweating as Derek didn’t even move his head in their direction. “But even still, I commend you for your enthusiasm, and for going along with the game so willingly. You seem to have had almost as much fun playing it as I did making it. You’ll get a sendoff that I love because you’re my favourite.”

And with that, Derek flinched as he felt his body being punctured by cold, sharp things- almost like swords. He choked on his own breath but mustered a faint smile. He finally looked at his friends and the life faded from his eyes. Blood gushed from the holes in his body and rained down as he was taken out of the grip of the handtacle and was instead suspended in the air by sharp, black, pole-like things. 

The others stared at their, now gone, friend in horror. Ally wailed out again as Pierre and Wyatt trembled in fear. Wyatt began struggling against the grip of the handtacle. His arms weren’t bound to his sides, so he punched and scratched at what held him in a desperate attempt to get out of its grip. 

“I can’t die, I can't die- no no no, I can’t die-” He muttered over and over and he kept struggling. 

Timber didn’t seem to care, and turned to Pierre, who shook from fear as they looked into its horrid eyes.

“Now, Pierre, you delicate little thing, have you ever thought that thinking of other people in the same way you think of yourself isn’t a good thing? Hm? Because you always ruin other people’s fun because of that! Even in this game, which is very rigged by the way, you aren’t allowed to win, you found a way to think of everyone else as the bad guy when they aren’t. You really must realize that even though something isn’t real, it can still be fun.” It let their arms go, instead holding them by their legs. “Oh, you’ll be needing this.”

A large knife appeared in their hand, Timber grinned and Pierre felt their arm moving on its own to their throat. They pressed the cold blade to their neck but suddenly threw their other arm up and grabbed their own wrist in an attempt to stop what they knew was going to happen. Timber didn’t let that happen though, as a smaller handtacle reached and grabbed Pierre’s free arm’s wrist- and snapped it. They yelled and screamed in pain as they felt the bone break, while Timber just laughed at them. 

“Now, I was going to make that easier for you, but you just had to go and complicate it.” It said in an annoyed tone.

“Wait wha-” Pierre couldn’t finish speaking before they were stabbed in the chest, by their own hand.

Struggling to breathe, they held up the bloodied blade and, with a final breath, they learned their head back and swiped it across their throat. Blood spurted from the wound as Wyatt and Ally screamed and sobbed in terror. Pierre’s lifeless body was dropped onto the ground with a loud thump. 

Wyatt continued panicking more and more, crying and screaming as he tried to get his lower body out of the handtacle, but it began to feel as though it was getting tighter and tighter, which caused him to panic more.

“Now, Ally…” Timber turned to her.

“I don’t wanna hear your monologue.” She said, tears streaming down her face. “Just do what you’re gonna do already…” 

“Well, if you don’t want a long monologue then that is what you shall receive. Though I will say this: you don’t have to put up with these idiots all the time, sometimes they deserve to hear the truth.” It loosened its grip, but she didn’t move. “Okay, bye-bye then!”

Timber grinned, and Ally soon felt herself begin to feel warmer. Her temperature continued to rise, sweat poured down her face but she stayed silent. Then, she screamed, only for it to be cut off by a fiery explosion from inside of her. After a while, there was barely anything left of Ally, just a burned heap of ash and dust, it was dropped to the ground, next to Pierre. 

Wyatt kept struggling, growing more and more tired and scared as the seconds went by. His stomach felt like a deep hole and he felt so nauseous and weak, he shook like a plant in the wind and he cried and sobbed that he didn’t want to die. Timber only looked at him, about to speak.

“I hate you…” wyatt sobbed out. “I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you I hate you-”

“That’s quite enough,” Timber said in a harsh voice as Wyatt continued to sob and yell. ‘’You really need to relax, accept it just like all of your friends did.”

“This whole this is stupid- this game is stupid! Why did you have to torment me?! Why? Why me?” He choked out. “It’s all so stupid! Stupid! Stupid!” 

He pounded his fists on Timber’s handtacle as he yelled. Then, he felt it tighten even more around him.

“Stu… pid…” he heard a crack and felt an unbearable amount of pain.

“I’m not going to bother saying anything to you like I did the others, you never listen to anything until it’s too late.” Timber gripped Wyatt’s Wyatt’s body harder and tighter and grinned as he heard his bones crack and shift. “What a shame for you…”

Wyatt couldn’t speak anymore, he couldn’t even breathe. His ribs, his arms, his legs- everything was cracking and shattering and grinding together. As he felt himself fading away, he couldn’t even take a final breath or utter any last words. He heard Timber laugh, then Edward joined in too, both taking joy in watching the man’s life slip away until he was finally gone. Then, his body was dropped down by the rest of his friends. 

Timber and Edward smiled at the sight, the bodies began to sink into the floor as if it was quicksand. Then, the school broke apart, wall by wall, like unfolding a piece of paper, and the world outside of it was simply a black void. Timber and Edward floated in the void and saw the other teachers begin to float around them.

“What happened to them?” Karen asked.

‘’Are we allowed to leave? I am starving.” Basil added.

“You don’t need to worry about anything other than your paychecks,” Edward replied to them. 

“We better be getting paid a lot for this!” Carlston shouted.

“Enough at least to cover my recovery bills…” Iago said, clutching his stomach. “This injury is going to carry into the real world, I just know it.”

“I’ll take care of your recovery, Iago,” Timber responded. “Now, you all wake up and go about your days.”

“Thank you all so much for your help in this game.” Edward waved to them as all the teachers began to feel their visions blur. “See you all on Monday! Bye-bye!”

And just like that, they all woke up in their beds. Except for Derek, Pierre, Ally, and Wyatt.

They didn’t get to wake up.


End file.
